1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a disk drive device, and to a disk drive device in which, by using a flexible cable, the rigidity of which is improved, it is prevented that, when a disk tray is received by a housing, the flexible cable is sandwiched between the disk tray and the housing.
Recently, it is demanded that a notebook-type personal computer in which the disk drive device is incorporated be made to be miniaturized and thinner. As a result, making the disk drive device itself thinner has been attempted. Thereby, a space formed between the disk tray on which a disk is placed and the housing which slideably supports the disk tray becomes narrower.
2. Description of the Related Art
As a disk drive device, there is a device which reads information recorded on a CD-ROM (simply referred to as a `disk`, hereinafter) through a laser pickup.
In such a type of disk drive device, the disk tray (simply referred to as a `tray`hereinafter) on which the disk is loaded is provided in a manner in which the tray can slide between an ejecting position in which the disk is loaded and unloaded, and a reproducing position in which information stored in the disk is read.
FIGS. 1A, 1B shows the disk drive device 102 in the related art. As shown in FIG. 1A, in the tray 106 which is included in the disk drive device 102, a turntable 134 on which the disk is placed and which rotates the disk, a pickup portion (not shown in the figures) which optically detects information recorded on the disk, and so forth are provided.
A flexible cable 110 is provided between the tray 106 and a housing 104. The flexible cable 110 is curved in accordance with a position relationship between the tray 106 and the housing 104. Further, the flexible cable 110 electrically connects a substrate 138 provided in the tray 106 with a substrate 140 provided in the housing 104. When the tray 106 moves, a movable portion 110a follows the sliding movement of the tray 106 and moves in the housing 104.
As shown in FIG. 1B, as a result of the disk drive device 102 becoming thinner, the inner space of the housing 104 becomes narrow, and, thereby, the flexible cable cannot bend gently. Accordingly, when the tray 106 is received by the housing 104, the movable portion 110a of the flexible cable 110 may come into contact with the inner surface 104a of the housing 104. In this case, due to the frictional resistance occurring as a result of the contact of the movable portion 110a with the inner surface 104a of the housing 104, a portion 110b of the flexible cable 110, which portion 110b cannot enter the housing 104, projects from the gap between the tray 106 and the housing 104.
Further, when the tray 106 continues to move into the housing 104, the projecting portion 110b of the flexible cable 110 is sandwiched between a rear end portion 106a of the tray 106 and a front end portion 104b of the housing 104. When the flexible cable 110 is thus sandwiched therebetween, the tray 106 is not completely received by the housing 104, and, also, the flexible cable 110 itself may be damaged.